My 20-month-old baby boy is underweight?

Question

He weighs 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds). I think it is way below the average weight for a kid of his age. He is quite active and does all the things you expect but eat. He hardly eats anything. We have tried to give him cereals and pulses and cooked rice. No luck. He hates milk, dunno why. Can anybody please suggest what food we can give him so that he eats and comes on track. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I know it is hard, but it sounds like he is just going thru that normal stage where they hardly eat anything.

Try making zucchini slice, so easy and my boys down it.

My 15 month old wont eat any thing but pasta at the mo, so I have just been putting more and more vegies in his sauce.

Speak to your dr or local clinic nurse if you are worried.

Good luck

Answer 2

At twenty months you really shouldn't be able to list the foods you have tried - he should have tried just about everything except maybe shellfish, nuts and hot spices.

Bread? Meat? Fish? Pasta? Potatoes? Noodles? Cheese? Vegetables? Fruit? Custard? Yogurt?

Give him what you eat, cut up fine (if what you eat isn't healthy, change your diet). He won't eat everything, but on his severely limited diet at the moment there's a strong chance he likes nothing!

Answer 3

Have lots of high fat snacks available, like cheese sticks, bread, home made mini pizzas, home made oven chips/wedges, fruits and still offer his usual meals.

Lots of children go through a stage of not wanting to eat, especially if they are very active and don't want to break the activity they are doing, if he can have on the go snacks while he is playing he should pick up, try not to worry too much.

My first child was and still is very slight in build but he is healthy, my second however is a food monster!

If you want my home made pizza/wedges recipe let me know!

Answer 4

My daughter is pretty skinny too.  I am not to that age yet where we can give her more adult foods, but we are trying to keep her diet mostly formula for now, since it has a lot of aft, protein and calories per ounce.

I have heard that giving kids Pediasure is a good way to get the weight on. We will probably add that to our daughter's diet as she gets older, to help keep her calorie and fat consumption at the same level it is now.

Answer 5

Before you freak out about it.  Find out about the weight of your other family members.  I had a son who was in the 10th percentille and was underweight for until recently 13 years old now.  His father was small when he was a child.  (4'8" and 45 pounds in 1st grade).  

Try serving healthy snacks.  If you are cutting things in small chunks try bigger chunks.  If you have older kids or he eats with you and you don't have your foods chunked he may be protesting.  

Try cheese or  yogurt, ice cream.  Change the percentage of fat in milk that you're giving him.  (ie if you're on whole or 2% is you are already giving him whole.)

Try to relax about it.  My youngest doesn't always eat around my husband because he gets stressed when she doesn't seem to eat much.

Answer 6

If other family members are smaller than it might just be his genetics to be slim.  As far as getting him to eat, you might not be able to.  Kids that age are learning what it means to be independent.  They do all sorts of stuff to prove to the world, and themselves, that the have control over things.  He knows you can't force him to eat, so he has control of that situation.  As a toddler, I would refuse to eat certain things in a cycle.  Mom took me to the doctor who said I was perfectly healthy and not malnurished and encouraged Mom to stop worrying so much.  I'll give you an example.  For 3-4 days in a row, I would only eat fruit.  For the next 3-4 days, I only wanted meat.  Then veggies and so on.  I didn't get my nutrients in one balanced meal.  But over the course of a week or so, I did get everything I needed to grow and be healthy.  

The rule I have for my daughter is that she has to taste the item.  Just one bite.  If she truely doesn't like it, she doesn't have to eat it.  I give her a wide variety of foods and make her taste things again after a few months.  You develop different likes and dislikes at different ages.  Maybe today she doesn't like cauliflower, but in a few months or years that could change.

You don't say if you've talked to your pediatrician about your son's weight.  If not, I would suggest bringing it up at his next appointment.  Perhaps your son is healthy.  Asking a trained professional will put your mind at ease.  If he isn't healthy, you can get suggestions on what to do to insure he gets healthy.  The fact that you took the time to ask your question here shows that you are concerned and that is the first step to being a good parent, in my opinion.

Answer 7

take him to the doctors who will refer you to a dietion who will probably give you juice build up drinks my sister had them.

good luck